Osler's Razor

Rants, mumbling, repressed memories, recipes, and haiku from a professor at the University of St. Thomas Law School.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

My dad, from France....

My parents are in Provence this month, a place they love. My dad blogged about it this week, in the course of discussing the artistic process of editing, or winnowing something down to a finished product. He sculpts sometimes, an art that is really just the editing of a piece of wood or clay. I love what he had to say about editing, a necessary exercise that is difficult for me.

Here is part of what he wrote:

I am still in Provence, France where we are
barraged by exceptional images. This is a place where hundreds of
memorable moments are thrown at you every day. It is a dry climate with a
steady stream of cool air that is funneled down through the Rhone
valley by the Mistral winds coming from the Alps. When one steps out of
the sun and in to the shade you feel this cool breeze. There are hills
and mountains and flat fields of vines and crops. Villages sit atop high
places and cling to sides of cliffs. They perch defiantly against the
march of time and tourists. I have come to paint for over 25 years to
the same villages and have become friends with some truly remarkable
people. We are currently a guest of Ernst Sillem, a Dutchman, who has
lived in his words, “an amusing life”.

Ernst will soon turn 93 years old and still
lives a vigorous and independent life. He has a glint in his eye and pep
in his stride. His life has not been easy and in his success and
positive nature we can learn some lessons in life.

Ernst learned the skill of editing while
being held a prisoner in German work camps throughout World War II.
Ernst was saved from dying with all the occupants of Dachau as scheduled
by the early arrival of American troops. He was a rare case of someone
surveying the whole war being overworked and underfed in these hideous
camps. He has many stories of grit and some good luck. His survival and
subsequent life were a product of mind over matter. He declares that
this was a grand school to learn how to survive hard knocks.

In prison Ernst learned to edit. He learned to put yesterday out of his
mind in order to face the day ahead of him. This was a skill that he
would need in his life that took him to pioneer new agricultural
techniques in Morrocco and a rabbit farm in France. His ” good head”
would help him cope with the loss of three wives, a son and many
friends. Each day he wakes with good cheer and adventure in his heart.
What a gift. What power good editing can have.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Haiku of change...

It was a small but powerful group of haiku last week. Jill Scoggins and David Best both made something beautiful of their own experience, but it was CraigA who was closest to my own view (not that my own view is necessarily best), and I appreciate his concerted effort to make the syllables work out:

What are we willing? Sacrifices at alter Of big-time sports Gods

I love Division Three college sports; closer toScholar-athlete i(deal)

Sunday Reflection: A Sadness

The shock for me this week was (of course) was the course of developments of Baylor, with the football coach and President fired, and a damning report of sexual assault and inattention released.

When I look at Baylor message boards (like this one), what I mostly see is anger. Mostly, people are angry because the football team will take a hit. A much smaller group is angry because women were raped, and the details have become clear.

That's a sad ratio for a Christian school, isn't it? Of course, that particular board is self-selected for football fans, and that skews responses. Furthermore, one thing that goes with becoming a big-time football school is that you gain hard-core fans who have little association with the school itself.

As I reflect on it all, mostly I am just sad. There were some remarkable and deep failings by those charged with maintaining a safe environment at Baylor, and beyond that a culture that does not match Baylor's professed principles.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Nekima Levy-Pounds leaving UST....

So, now it is public-- my St. Thomas colleague Nekima Levy-Pounds is leaving St. Thomas. It is a blow for the school, as she contributed immensely to the experience of our students and community as a whole. I can't wait to see what she will do next!

Friday, May 27, 2016

Haiku Friday: Changes

As pretty much everyone knows by now, Baylor is going through some serious changes. Based on a law firm's report on the University's response to sexual violence and rape of students, yesterday the governing Board of Regents fired football coach Art Briles and removed Ken Starr as President of the University (he remains as Chancellor and a tenured member of the law faculty).

Last summer, I wrote this in the Waco Tribune-Herald, in talking about Baylor football:

Success changes things and presents new dangers. The obvious risk is to
the academic integrity of the school. Less obvious but also important is
the risk that such a major investment in football poses to the
Christian identity of the school. Simply put, Jesus taught that “where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Football, a sport that
emphasizes aggressiveness, swagger and physical dominance, may be an
awkward place for a Christian school to put its treasure.

I was glad to see Baylor take action, and release a summary of the law firm's report.

Let's haiku about change this week-- changes in work, changes in family, anything that relates to transition.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Political Mayhem Thursday: The Clinton Emails Loom Larger

Just as Hillary Clinton appears to be the presumptive nominee, the issue regarding her use of a private email server as Secretary of State is back in the news-- an for good reason.

Yesterday, the State Department's Inspector General-- an Obama hire and employee-- issued his report on the issue. Two clear findings were that (1) Clinton did not have authorization to use the server and (2) if she had sought such authorization, it would have been denied.

The report,
delivered to members of Congress, undermined some of Mrs. Clinton’s
previous statements defending her use of the server and handed her
Republican critics, including the party’s presumptive nominee for
president, Donald J. Trump, new fodder to attack her just as she closes
in on the Democratic nomination.

The
inspector general found that Mrs. Clinton “had an obligation to discuss
using her personal email account to conduct official business” with
department officials but that, contrary to her claims that the
department “allowed” the arrangement, there was “no evidence” she had
requested or received approval for it.

And
while other senior officials had used personal email accounts for
official business, including Colin Powell when he was secretary, the
rules made clear by the time she became the nation’s top diplomat that
using a private server for official business was neither allowed nor
encouraged because of “significant security risks.”

And if that is what the pro-Clinton Times is saying, you can imagine what more conservative media outlets are making of this.

As I have said before, this is a serious issue, and a serious failing. A desire for secrecy that is so strong it leads to this kind of behavior is a real negative in a prospective president. Clinton's attempts to laugh it off or "spin" it by pointing fingers elsewhere just makes things worse. She may have to say it a thousand times, but she just needs to say it was a mistake, and a serious one, that won't be repeated.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Baylor in Turmoil (?)

Rumors are raging at Baylor, after a University of Texas-affiliated blogger had reported that Baylor's board of Regents met on Tuesday morning and voted to fire President Ken Starr. Other news sources quickly picked up on the story, Baylor's official word was that nothing was being announced right now.

I learned long ago not to jump to conclusions on partial information. I really don't know what is going on, or what basis there would be for such an action. At the least, though, this is clearly a time of tumult for Baylor, created by a very real and important issue-- the efforts (or lack of effort) by the university to address the problem of rape on campus.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Chris Clark, Bear and Tommie

One of the graduates I will really miss is Chris Clark. He came to St. Thomas from Baylor, where he earned his undergrad degree. When he came to visit the school I met with him, and urged him to come. It was a leap-- he was and is a true Texan, and Minnesota is a stretch in terms of weather and culture.

He did it though, and St. Thomas was deeply blessed to have him. Because he was not a criminal law guy, he was not in my classes. Still, I often heard about him from others, many of whom did not know our connection. They always talked about him as being special, gifted in mind and spirit. I was taken with him mindfulness, too, and his gently soul. When I ran into him in the hall, no matter how busy I was, I couldn't help but detour and visit for a while, and I never regretted it.

I'm thankful for many of our students, and Chris is one of them. He will be missed.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Sunday Reflection: Looking at politics with an open heart

I have a piece in today's Waco Tribune Herald that will probably make some people (everyone) angry. In it, I put forward positives about both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton without even including a "but..." that then explains how one or the other is actually like Hitler.

Are both of the candidates egotistical, ruled by political urges, and devoted to positions with which I disagree. Well, yes. But that is who we usually are going to have running for public office, and none of that means that they are evil.

I get really discouraged when I read or hear an analysis arguing that what Republicans or Democrats "really want" is to get rid of freedom, or destroy our institutions of democracy, or impoverish the country. Of course they don't "want" that. You may think that their ideas would lead to that, but they disagree with that perspective and think their ideas will lead to more freedom, a stronger democracy, and prosperity.

The divisions in our society are real and troubling. One cause is the political demonization of those who oppose our party or position. We can disagree without seeing evil intent in those who oppose us.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Smart people, good hearts, great idea

Some of you know that I am a real admirer of the work that Dan Collison and his staff are doing at First Covenant Church here in Minneapolis (I also get to preach there about twice a year, most recently last month).

The city in recent years
has seen many new luxury apartments pop up, along with a few affordable
housing projects in which rents are subsidized. But new housing options
for the moderate-income worker — those who earn too much to qualify for a
subsidy yet not enough to pay for high rents — have been left out of
the downtown residential boom.

Ryan [Companies, a developer],
First Covenant Church and Community Housing Development Corp. a year ago
outlined a rough vision for a six-story apartment building across 6th
Street S. from the new Vikings stadium. This week, they submitted to the
city a near-final plan for the $38 million project, which was designed
by UrbanWorks Architecture.

The financing model is key
to the project. Workforce housing, or that which is accessible to
people making 50 to 60 percent of the area median income, is difficult
to execute. Developers need to make money on a project and there are two
ways to do that typically: build market-rate apartments that fetch
rents high enough to pay back the cost of construction or build units
for low-income earners that are eligible for government subsidies.

But Ryan,
First Covenant and CHDC found a way to make the math work for their
project, one that takes the Olympics for inspiration. They have an
unnamed private partner with a nice budget for housing and operational
space during the Super Bowl festivities that is close to committing to
the project.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Haiku Friday: Dream car

Summer is for road trips, and that makes me think of my dream car. Of course, that changes from week to week. And no, a 1985 El Camino (pictured above) has never been my dream car, though it is pretty distinctive.

So, let's haiku about that this week. It can be about the car you desire now, or the one you wanted when you were 16. Or even one you actually owned, and miss.

Here, I will go first:

Chevy S-10 Truck

Spot Davis had a classic

I lov'd to "borrow."

Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula, and have some fun!

In tomorrow's Baltimore Sun...

Political Mayhem Thursday: Who would you have run as a third candidate?

Now that we can be fairly confident that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be the major-party candidates for President this year, it is fair to say that many people won't be happy with the choices.

All right, then... so who else? I have listed below some viable third-party candidates. Feel free to discuss one of these, or discuss others. Notably, most of those listed below have said they aren't interested in such a run, but let's just figure that we could

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Criminal law question #14

I am in the middle of a grading haze-- there is something about it that just kills my brain for almost anything else. Of course, as many of you know I use a Sorting Hat to do a lot of the grading, which makes the whole process easier.

Writing the tests is actually kind of fun and challenging. They usually feature the same cast of characters: Rink Allegro (star of action movie "Explodar 4: The Key to Explodar City"), Glorbin Dandyport (who is usually an FBI agent of uneven abilities), and Larry Bates (who often appears as the neighbor or accomplice of Glorbin Dandyport).

For the first-year Criminal Law class, the test is a mix of multiple choice and essay questions. Here is a sample multiple choice question. Do you know the answer? (in the test, we used Minnesota law, but you can apply the law of your own state):

Bob McBurger is very curious about his neighbors, and would like to see them when they are asleep. He knows they leave their door unlocked, so one night he sneaks into their house, just to peek at them. He sees them, in their pajamas, sound asleep. He then sneaks back downstairs. On the way out, he notices that they have several very nice guns in a rack by the door. He didn’t know about that! He takes them, and brings them home. He later sells them to his buddy Russ. What is the most serious crime he has committed?A) TheftB) BurglaryC) RobberyD) Armed RobberyE) “Super” Armed Robbery

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Bob Darden Drives and Talks Waco

I love love love this video by the Dallas Morning News, showing my friend and writing hero Bob Darden driving around Waco and talking about its history:

The surprising thing is what goes unsaid: in 100 or 200 or 300 years, what will be most significant about Waco won't be football or Ken Starr or a TV show about houses. It will be the fact that it was there that Bob Darden saved the legacy of black gospel music, a purely American art form that has influenced music around the world.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

It's graduation day!

And who knows who will show up? I sure hope it is not that rabbit-- it kind of gives me the creeps.

Anyways, I'm looking forwards to it. Since the 3L's voted me the "professor of the year," I get to do the hooding. Which, when I do it, is mostly clumsily knocking off hats. Still, I'm better than that rabbit.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Political Mayhem Thursday: Both parties need to clearly see how Trump won the nomination

Some Republicans are making their peace with Donald Trump as the party's standard-bearer. Others… well, not so much. They are thinking about third party candidates, vowing not to go to the Convention, and muttering about lost causes.

Meanwhile, Democrats seem to think they have this thing all sewn up, and are making inquiries about positions in the next Clinton administration.

I don't understand either group. Were they watching the primaries we just went through?

First of all, Trump was not a fluke. He faced a large and talented crowd of 16 primary opponents that included successful governors, accomplished senators, scions of business and medicine, and also Ted Cruz. Look, there were some fascinating people in that group; I was on record that I thought it was a deep bench. But Trump beat them all. Republican voters in primaries and caucuses liked him best. So how is it a tragedy that he won? Were 11 million Republican voters wrong?

The Republicans who are announcing their disgust at this outcome are distancing themselves from that plurality of Republican voters, a group that is mad. And they are mad in part because Republicans convinced them to be mad-- at Obama, at the economy, at government. So, yeah, now they are mad. And Trump went right to that. Yes, he made xenophobic appeals and overstated the threat of immigration-- but that has been a characteristic of many Republican candidates (and some Democrats) for decades. In fact, the need to address that tendency within the Republican Party was part of the conclusion in the RNC's "post-mortem" in the wake of the 2012 loss to Obama. It's like the Frankenstein monster-- they are scared of what they have created.

And as for the Democrats…

A year ago, no one except Donald J. Trump thought Trump could win the nomination. They were all wrong. Isn't that a pretty good warning not to think this thing is in the bag?

Here is what can go wrong for the over-confident Democrats (aside from an indictment of Hillary Clinton, which I think is a possibility):

First of all, those mad Republicans have a lot in common with the mad Democrats who have supported Bernie Sanders in droves. At base, mad Democrats AND mad Republicans throng to someone who blames someone else (immigrants/banks) for their problems. In the general election there will be one candidate-- Trump-- who will speak to them and for them. That's a problem for Clinton.

Moreover, both Sanders and Trump talked about about a concrete, very real issue in the same way: foreign trade. They both argued that deals like NAFTA took away American jobs. (Economists say they are right, too, though such trade deals are just one of many factors). That plays well in states like Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida-- key swing states. In some very important ways, Clinton/Jeb Bush/wealthy donors on both sides vs. Trump/Sanders/working class America is a cleavage point.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Conservatives and the Academy

There was a fascinating piece in the NY Times last weekend by Nicholas Kristof titled "A Confession of Liberal Intolerance." There, Kristof discusses the bare fact that those who talk about "diversity" rarely mean diversity of political viewpoint, and the lack of conservatives in some part of the academy.

I am fortunate to work at a place that quite intentionally has that kind of diversity. I have written before about how that is good for our students and for me. Especially in law, we need to expose our students to different viewpoints given that our field is so directly linked to politics.

Yet, I don't think that the failure to seek out political diversity is a reason to give up on other forms of diversity. Being black is not the same as being liberal; that experience includes things (such as being the object of discrimination) that whites-- liberal or conservative-- do not experience in the same way. Rather, they are two separate and worthwhile types of diversity, that should be sought within the academy both within the faculty and the student body.

Monday, May 09, 2016

Haiku of Trump

I can't even pick-- there was lots of great work on the topic. Christine seemed especially motivated (and skilled) last week, among others.

Yesterday, I got to go watch Joy Tull and her teammates on the Chicago North Shore rugby club play here in Minneapolis. What a sport! It's pretty fascinating, and Joy is really good at it. It was a blast to see it.

Speaking of Trump, I think that this election cycle will be a lot like rugby. There will be a scrum where no one sees the ball, and a lot of yelling, while no one on the sideline will really know what the score is.

Sunday, May 08, 2016

In today's Waco Trib...

Sunday Reflection: Water and dust

I found myself this week deep in the San Joaquin Valley of California, an area between the coastal range and the Sierra Nevada. It is mostly an agricultural area, growing most of America's almonds, pistachios, and raisins.

It's a weird place though. I was mostly in almond territory, and it's an unusual kind of agriculture. The trees are planted in rows, hundreds of acres, surrounded by brown and dry high desert. The agriculture is only possible by using huge amounts of water, which is a precious commodity as the drought in California stretches into another year (despite some improvements in parts of the state this year). The fight over water is everywhere in the Valley-- on signs by the road and the words of angry people on the radio. The agricultural interests want to draw more water from the rivers, and are meeting resistance from environmentalists.

All the talk of water fascinated me. In Minnesota, it is all around us, unbidden. You can't go ten blocks without running into a lake, and rivers go through people's backyards. We don't talk about it; it's just there.

Jesus lived in a desert culture, and he talked about water a lot. When he sees the woman at the well, he talks to her about water. Baptism becomes a part of Christianity, and his first apostles are fisherman.

Such a simple thing, and so precious, necessary to thrive. To understand how precious it is, though, you have to go to where it is dry and walk there for a while.

Saturday, May 07, 2016

A word about Mom

I'm a lucky guy in many ways, but one of them is to have Phyllis Osler as my mom. She is a remarkable person, and recently I was reflecting on some of the things she gave me:

1) She taught me to be comfortable with smart women, rather than intimidated or bossy. She taught this by example; I grew up with a mom who read constantly, knew about a wide range of issues, and loved to discuss things ranging from theology to science. I learned how to listen to and interact with a smart, confident woman, and in 2016 that is an important thing to know.

2) She taught me to love books. She reads constantly, and talks about what she reads. So many times she has added to what I thought I knew about a book, or recommended something wonderful to read.

3) She taught me, too, how to let things go. It is one of her great traits-- the art of moving on when something goes wrong.

4) She taught me not to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others. I remember once talking about the downfall of a rival, and she was appalled. Once I thought about it, I was too.

5) Like my dad, she has the gift of seeing beauty everywhere, in the smallest or most unlikely spaces. That is a secret to happiness, I think, and balance.

Amazing work by Sari Horwitz

Today's Washington Post features a remarkable and comprehensive piece by Sari Horwitz, outlining the problems with the federal clemency process and where things stand. Sari (who has won three Pulitzers) has done consistently strong work examining the administration's claim that things are going well. Previous pieces have featured clemency petitioners like my pro bono client Weldon Angelos.

I love that she breaks down the current structure, and includes two of my ideas for reform of the system. People complain about being quoted inaccurately in the media, but that has not been a problem for me-- journalists like Sari always seem to report with concision and accuracy what I say and think, and in context. Any stupidity revealed is usually mine.

Friday, May 06, 2016

Haiku Friday: Trump!

Let's face it, this is kind of his week, right? Not many people thought the day would come that he would be the presumptive nominee, and yet here we are. Love it or hate it (and I know that a lot of you hate it), he is in this position because millions of Americans see hope in him. Whichever side you are on, and however this turns out, we do have to think hard about how we got to this point.

I have worked on this issue for several months, talking to doctors, patients, and others. From that, I have come to realize that it will take real political will to overcome this problem. One reason is that unlike street drugs, the makers and sellers of drugs like OxyContin have huge marketing budgets and hordes of lobbyists. Some of what they are doing is downright insidious. I have noticed that when I write about the problem and the need to limit prescriptions, I often get comments from people I have never heard of, who talk about how important opioids are to controlling their pain.

Curious, I did some research on these commenters. Some were apparently using fake names. A few others were affiliated with patient groups funded by the drug companies. It appears that the drug companies are paying people to comment on social media and push back against reforms that might limit the number of pills a person can be prescribed.

Now we have two candidates left for president. Will either take up this issue, and be effective?

Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Cruz closes up shop

It has been a bad week for Ted Cruz. First, former Speaker of the House John Boehner said that Cruz was "Lucifer in the flesh." That offended America's satanists, who objected on behalf of Lucifer. That's pretty harsh.

Next, he spent a lot of time and effort in Indiana, then lost yesterday's primary by 15 points. Finally, he dropped out of the race.

The consensus of America's pundits seems to be that the field is now set: Trump versus Clinton in the general election.

I would say that I am surprised, but I really am not. Back in July of 2015, long before the first primary, I wrote this:

I'm not so sure that support for Trump will evaporate immediately, as
some think. The truth is that his brash anger appeals to a substantial
plurality of Republicans-- the Tea Party folks who are mad as hell,
don't trust establishment candidates, and didn't like John McCain
anyways. The reason that some of the Republican candidates haven't
strongly condemned Trump is that they realize this.
Of course, I then went on to predict that Jeb Bush would prevail, so it turns out I am not such a good prognosticator after all!

For what it is worth, while people in Indiana were voting, I had a lot of fun talking to Ian Levitt for a full hour yesterday on AM 950 here in MSP. You can hear the podcast here. And, if you are into that kind of thing, my rant at the White House last month is now up on Youtube. You can see it here; the rant begins at about 2:48:00 or so.

Sunday, May 01, 2016

Sunday Reflection: Magic

I like this picture that Steve Timmer took on Thursday-- it looks like I might be doing a magic trick. I have always wanted to be able to do that, but the problem is that I wouldn't want it to be a trick; I would want it to be real.

My 7th and James Sunday school class (which was the most awesome such class ever) once was reading through the book of Mark. One of the things people were taken with was the amount of magic that there seemed to be in it. So much happened that was not explained-- demons and angels and unseen actors in our world.

The thing about magic is this: If I was capable of it, what would I do with that power? When I seriously address that question, the truth is that I would probably pursue the things I do now, and magic wouldn't help me much, if at all. My life would not be very different.

I suppose that one of the allures of magic is that it seems us to give us power, an ability that others don't have. Perhaps that is why some probably thought Jesus was a magician-- because he really did have powers that others didn't. In the end, though, the power he possessed that mattered the most was the ability to teach through word and example.

So, maybe that is really what we should strive for, no magic required. My profession is teaching, but I am far from good if Jesus is the standard, nor could I ever come close. Yet, there is something deep and real in seeing plainly what Jesus's most important power was. Even in the Son of God, magic is now what endures, but truth and love. That can be taught, no magic required.